MotorStorm RC is the latest entry into the MotorStorm franchise. Developed by Evolution Studios for the PS3 and PS Vita, MotorStorm RC features 8 different radio controlled vehicles on 16 tracks. It has online and offline multiplayer. The PS3 version offers split screen. Unlike many games that have versions that cross platforms, if you buy one version of the game, you get the other version for free.

In MotorStorm RC you can challenge your friends to beat your times on any of the tracks and on either system. You can also post your progress on Facebook or send directly to your friends. It features a community hub known as Pitwall. It contains the community news, times and challenges. From here you can select a challenge you want to beat and it’ll take you straight there.

There is a brief introduction on how to drive the cars in Motorstorm RC and once complete you can head straight to the first race. At first you only have access to the first race until you earn a medal. From there the other tracks, challenges and vehicles begin to unlock. You can earn 3 medals for 1st place, 2 for 2nd or 1 medal for 3rd place. You can earn a total of 144 medals.

The controls are pretty standard and simple. Left analog stick steers; the right analog stick is for accelerate/reverse/brake. X to select/action. The R or R1 button to reset the track; Triangle to change camera angle. Start to pause. Select for the main menu. You can also choose between standard or alternate steering controls. Only the left analog stick is affected by that.

There are 4 locations: Monument Valley, Pacific Rift, Artic Edge and Apocalypse. Each setting has 4 different tracks. There are 8 vehicle classes: Supermini, Monster Truck, Racing Truck, Muscle car, Buggy, Rally car, Big Rig and Super car. By earning medals you’ll be able to unlock different cars, or you can purchase new vehicles from the Playstation store. Each model is customizable with different paint jobs or style.

There are 4 event types that you can earn medals in. Race is the basic competition. Come in first, second or third place to earn medals. Hot Lap allows you to compete without other vehicles on the track but only the fastest laps earn medals. The target times are listed in the event. Pursuit puts you at the rear of the pack and you have to overtake the other drivers to come in first place. Finally there’s Drift; shred the circuit by drifting around corners to rack up points for the medals.

There are 2 other areas of note: Wreckreation and Playground. In Wreckreation you can either set record times in each circuit for your friends to challenge; or use freeplay to hone your driving skills by competing against the computer AI. You can set the difficulty level of the AI drivers. In Playground you can take any RC car and just cut loose as you want.

There is a lot to do in MotorStorm RC. It’s simple and fun. But it doesn’t bring anything new to the franchise. The Vita version doesn’t use any of the Vita’s unique features. Overall it’s a pretty average game, but no less fun for that simplicity.

Unfortunately MotorStorm RC isn’t very well done graphically. The sound track is rather plain in my opinion. Being able to compete against your friends at your convenience is a nice aspect. The game play is pretty standard but the smaller sized vehicles don’t really look all that great. This is one of those games that you play for the fun and not for the graphics. For $10 you can get both versions of the game, or you can get it as a free download on the Playstation Vita only.
Final Score: 7 out of 10